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Guardian Angel

GUARDIAN ANGEL, My Story, My Britain, charts the journey of a journalist and writer who moved from darling of the left to champion of the moral high ground. This memoir of her personal and professional life
reflects the cultural changes in society over more than three decades.

The book is among the opening titles released by Melanie's new
publishing company, Melanie Phillips Electric Media. It can be purchased
from emBooks.com as well as from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk and iBooks.

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Leading to surrender

Readers of the Jerusalem Post have doubtless been
bemused by a rumbling controversy over whether or not the Anglo-Jewish
leadership comprises what Isi Leibler derided as "trembling
Israelites".

Leibler suggested that both the Board of Deputies and
the Jewish Leadership Council were in denial over the UK's dramatic upsurge in
anti-Israel feeling. In particular, they understated the threat of Muslim
antisemitism and jihadism, and continuously issued statements warning of the
dangers of Islamophobia which paled beside the violence and threats levelled
against Jews.

Leibler was accused of misrepresenting the situation.
What happened to Brooke Goldstein, however, suggests he is nearer to the truth.
Leeds JSoc invited Goldstein, a US lawyer who fights Islamic extremism and
defends Israel, to deliver a talk at about the stifling of free speech on the
Middle East.

The JSoc then abruptly cancelled her talk - on the
grounds that it would jeopardise community relations and endanger the welfare
of Leeds students.

Why was Goldstein considered a menace? Apparently
because she is a supporter of the Dutch politician Geert Wilders, had linked to
an article about him on a website called Gates of Vienna, and a member of her
staff had blogged about a film entitled The Third Jihad.

Such reasoning shows how deeply political correctness
has warped the judgment of these students. Wilders has been demonised because
he stands resolutely against the Islamist aim of conquering the west - and because
he thinks the Koran incites hatred and violence against Jews and
"infidels". Does Leeds JSoc not think this incitement endangers
Jewish students?

Gates of Vienna is an anti-Islamist site that has
provided a platform for some ultra-nationalists. Goldstein says her
organisation merely linked to one article. This tars her as a dangerous
extremist? As for The Third Jihad, I know this is an important film - narrated
by a Muslim - which charts the nature and extent of Islamist aggression and the
inroads this has been allowed to make in the west. Yet this film has been
smeared by the usual combination of Islamists and their western apologists.

I have a particular interest in this smear because I,
too, am interviewed in this film. I, too, could thus be pilloried as an
"anti-Muslim extremist" - and I'm afraid to say there are members of
the UK Jewish community who already do that.

This derives from the confusion among much of the
leadership, which seems to believe that to identify the threat from Islamic
religious extremism is "Islamophobic". Indeed, a number of communal
worthies wrote to the JC attacking it for "criticising and
embarrassing" Leeds JSoc instead of "supporting" and
"thanking" it.

Thanking it for what? For its "resolve" in
repudiating the principle of free speech on campus? For "improving Jewish
student life" by smearing those who fight Islamic religious fascism, thus
effectively whitewashing the virulent Jew-hatred pouring out of the Muslim
world? For "acting in the best interests of their members" by turning
on a lawyer who would help them defend themselves against anti-Jewish attacks?

The fact that this morally bankrupt act by Leeds JSoc
has been supported by UJS and so many in Jewish leadership suggests that these
leaders don't understand who are the true friends of the Jews. "Trembling
Israelites" isn't the half of it. These Anglos are not so much
"trembling" as leading the surrender to the enemies of the Jews - and
thus indirectly encouraging them to redouble their attacks. British Jews should
indeed be trembling at being thus abandoned by those who speak in their name.

About Melanie

Melanie Phillips is a British journalist and author. She is best known
for her controversial column about political and social issues which
currently appears in the Daily Mail. Awarded the Orwell Prize for
journalism in 1996, she is the author of All Must Have Prizes, an
acclaimed study of Britain's educational and moral crisis, which
provoked the fury of educationists and the delight and relief of
parents.